The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-11
THE LEEDS DEVIL.
The Creature Which for 100 Years
Has Served as a Terror to Jersey
pa0aIa
Ero,n The Me,n YnrI. SIM

FROM the NeU YORK Sun.
DoYLEsTowN, Pa, Oct. 1.-"Here is the
Leeds devil turnedu up again sure, exclaimed
an old resident of Burlington county, New
| Jersey, looking up in establishment from a
local paper he was reading. This paragraph
caused the exclamation:
Something new in the bird line was seen
by f. B. Phelps, of Mulberry, N. c. 1t has
the head of the owl, with tremendous black
eyes, Its face looked like a monkeys, with
white cheeks and black streak over each
eye, the rest of the head inclined to gray.
with black dots near the end of each feather
The body was covered with a beautiful
plumage. Whenever he went near it it
would give an unearthly yell that fright
ened the dogs 1t whipped out every dog
on the place"
THAT thing" said the Colonel, ''is not a
bird nor an animal, but it is the Leeds devil
according to the description, and it was born
over in Evasham, Burlington county, a hun
dred years ago. There is no mistake about
ut. l never saw the horrible critter, but I
can remember well when it was roaming
around, fifty years ago, and when it was
hunted by men and dogs. and shot at by the
best marksmen in all of South JERSEY. but
could not be killed. There is not family
| in Burlington or any of the adjoining coun-
| ties that does not know of the Leeds devil.
hdfo OccA OlU Vi I1ldIlY piece
of bovish mischief myself by being re-
minded of the dreaded creature, and
l believe it comes in handy to this
day for the same purpose in some parts
| of Burlington county. But it has not been
seen or heard in those parts for fifty years,
and it was long ago thought to have died
And to think that the frightful thing is still
livingl This will make a sensation in Bur-
lington, and people will begin to lay awake
NIGHTS aoroiYl n ham tba
| ly yell again that made the blood of past
generations run cold Where did the Leeds
devil come from? l can only tell you the
story as it had been handed down for a
century in Burlington county. You may
| not believe it, but you will have to walk a
good ways in that region before you find
| any one who doubts it.
just after the revolutionary war a
| young man named Leeds, who lived in
! Evasham and was well-known in all that
part of the country, married a respectable
| but harum-scarum girl, who was the life of
| all the cOrn-huskings, pairing bees, dances
and rustic merry markings She had a tenn
| per of her own, as the stories 60 and after
marriage refused to settle down to domes-
ITCHY, but insisted in joining in all the gay
doings of the region as she had done as a
| girl, in spite of her husbands protests.
| When she found she was to be
mother she became absolutely wicked
| in her complaints and regrets over
| having married, and led her husband a ter
rible life. The night before she became a
mother she was particularly violent. The
| granddaughter of the woman who used to
| be Mrs Leeds nurse is still living in Bur
| lington county and she says that what am
| going to tell you has been handed down in
the family straight and without change or
addition. This woman's grandmother
story was that that night Mrs. Leeds raised
| her hands above her head and Shrieked: 81
| hope it will be devil"
THE next night the nurse appeared at
her own house in great terror Mrs Leeds
is a mother she exclaimed, but her off
spring was a hideous deformity and flew up
and out of the chimney, shrieking and
| screaming as it went This strange story
created a sensation among the old-time resi-
dents of Evasham. 1t was not believed, of
| course, but the suspicion became general
| that Mrs. Leeds child had been made way
with, and that the extravagant story was
| told by the nurse to divert suspicion. A
| few days afterward, however, a man who
had been hunting, reported having seen a
| hldeous creature which had frightened him
away by its shrieks. His description tailed
with the one the Leeds nurse had given.
| The strange creature appeared
| to others from time to time and the
description given of it was exactly like this
| one of the queer things that has been dis
| covered at Mulberry, N. G. The nurses
| story was believed then and the Leeds
| devil became the terror of the region. II
was hunted for many years, but it seemed
| to possess charmed life. Silver bullets,
which were said to be potent against be-
witched things, were fired at it, but they
| had no effect. The last time it was seen OF
| heard of was over fifty years ago. The
story don't seem to tell what became OF
Mr.. and Mrs. Leeds, but every child in
Evasham can tell you all about the Leeds
devil. I'll take this paper with ME and
read this to my neighbors 1t will please
them know"